1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a method of manufacturing the FPCB substrate.
2. Description of Related Art
Nowadays, flexible printed circuit boards (FPCBS) are widely used in portable electronic devices such as mobile phones, digital cameras and personal digital assistants (PDAs). In some electronic devices, certain parts are movable relative to a main body. In these electronic devices, FPCBS can maintain an electrical connection between the main body and the movable parts due to their flexibility.
Generally, a FPCB is made of a sheet of a FPCB substrate. During a process of manufacturing the FPCB, for example, a plating process, a FPCB substrate 15 is required to be fixed to a rack 10, as shown in FIG. 5. A number of positioning holes 151 are formed along the edges of the FPCB substrate 15. The rack 10 includes a suspender 11 and a frame 12 connected to the suspender 11. The suspender 11 is configured for moving the frame 12 to a certain position. The frame 12 defines a number of holes 13 corresponding to the positioning holes 151. Thus, the FPCB substrate 15 is fixed to the frame 12 by a number of bolts 14 fastening through the positioning holes 151 and the corresponding hole 13.
After the plating process of the FPCB substrate 15, the FPCB substrate 15 is required to be disassembled from the frame 12. Because the FPCB substrate 15 is fixed to the frame by the bolts 14, much time may be spent disassembling the FPCB substrate 15, thus the process of treating the FPCB substrate 15 may be unduly prolonged. In addition, in the plating process, the bolts 14 are soaked in a plating solution for a long time, which may be subjected to corruption by the plating solution, thereby affecting the fastening performance of the bolts 14.
In order to overcome the above-mentioned defect of using the bolt 14 fixing the FPCB substrate 15, another fixing manner is developed. Referring to FIG. 6, a magnet 25 is used to fix the FPCB substrate 15 to a rack 20. The rack 20 is made of magnetism material, and the FPCB substrate 15 is fixed between the rack 20 and the magnet 25 by a magnetic force. In order to ensure the FPCB substrate 15 being stably fixed between the rack 20 and the magnet 25, a diameter of the magnet 25 is no less than 20 millimeters. Therefore, the FPCB substrate 15 should define a section/portion with a suitable size (i.e., no less than 20 millimeters) for arranging the magnet 25 thereon. However, after the FPCB has been manufactured, the section/portion for arranging the magnet 25 is thrown away, thereby increasing the amount of waste materials of the FPCB substrate 15.
Therefore, what is needed is a method of manufacturing the FPCB substrate which can overcome the above-described problems.